Ride with us on Zwift for the chance to win a CycleOps Hammer trainer worth £999

If your weather is anything like ours right now then venturing out on anything less than a fat bike is inadvisable. Don't fret though! This coming Monday is the third in our eight-week series of Hammer Time rides on Zwift in association with CycleOps.  The series finale is a Fondo on 23 April, and if you ride one of the series rides and the Fondo then you'll be in the hat to win a CycleOps Hammer direct drive trainer worth £999. And we'll be live on facebook this week too!

> Getting started with Zwift

Monday's ride is a group workout. That means everyone gets to to do the workout at their own level but the group stays together, even if you're putting out 150W and the rider next to you is doing double that. So you get the feel of a group ride and the benefits of a customised workout. Clever stuff.

Your FTP (functional threshold power) is only half the story, so for this workout it's time to get used to working well above that level. After a warm-up the session starts with two sets of ramped efforts, rising in intensity from 100% to 150% and decreasing in duration from two minutes to 30 seconds. You get a 30-second rest between efforts. 

The final set is a pyramid, working up to 150% and then back down the other side to 100%. Your FTP effort at the end will feel like a nice break by then! These are the kind of digs you'll need to put in to stay with other riders on a climb, for example, when the pace and effort ebbs and flows. Recovery in the short breaks is key.

> See Monday's ride on Zwift

There's a spot prize every week awarded to one UK rider, and this week you'll be in the hat to win a CycleOps riser block worth £20. Just for showing up! 

For full terms and conditions head to road.cc/hammertime

​We'll be live on facebook

We'll be streaming the group workout live to the road.cc facebook page as well, so you might catch yourself on that too! Dave will try to answer questions along the way, although he gets a bit out of breath on the hard bits.

Try out a CycleOps smart trainer at 11 demo centres across the UK

If you've never tried a smart trainer then you can give one a go at one of CycleOps' demo centres. There are currently 11 in the UK, with more to be announced soon. Head to paligap.cc to find your nearest demo centre.

Buy a CycleOps smart trainer and get a free training subscription worth at least £39!

If you buy a CycleOps Hammer or Magnus smart trainer before the end of April 2018 then you can get 3 months free on Zwift or 6 months on Rouvy. That's £39 of training on Zwift, or $66 on Rouvy. Both offer a range of training options, with structured training plans and interactive features. Check out zwift.com and rouvy.com to see what they offer. See the full details of the offer at paligap.cc.